


let's focus on communicating

by cosmicallycatastrophic



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), because bucks out of cryo, because theyre not in wakanda, i dont care about canon, noise cancelling headphones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-11 19:57:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13531446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicallycatastrophic/pseuds/cosmicallycatastrophic
Summary: Sam finds out why Bucky doesn't want to go out anywhere, and does something about it.





	let's focus on communicating

**Author's Note:**

> title from Location by Khalid. i love these boys.

Sam comes into the living room to see Bucky lounging on the couch, reading _Animal Farm._ He looks tired, but then, he always looks tired, and sorta like a raccoon that just climbed out of a dumpster. He’s focused, eyebrows drawn, and he’s chewing his lip; it’s cute in an unexpected way, the way that everything Bucky does is cute in an unexpected way, and Sam kicks himself for being so gone for this man that he finds it charming when he looks like he hasn’t showered or left the apartment for a week. Sam moves Bucky’s legs so he can slide under them, and positions them on his lap. He pinches the arch of Bucky’s foot.

“Hm?” Bucky looks up, eyes adjusting, and gives Sam the small warm smile that makes his heart swell every time he sees it.

“I’m going running later, you wanna come?” Sam says, still rubbing Bucky’s foot. Bucky shakes his head and waves his book, as if to say I’m Busy. “How about getting coffee? Or there’s a Thai place a couple blocks away I’ve been meaning to try.” Bucky has been rediscovering his love of food, and he usually jumps at the chance to try something new; he isn’t called on missions much so he bakes on his good days, cakes and cookies and brownies. He’s no longer just skin and bone, even has the beginnings of love handles, and it’s so sweet Sam could die.

But Bucky shakes his head again, his smile dropping slightly. His shoulders hunch and he lowers his gaze before answering, and Sam knows him well enough by now to know that he’s either overthinking like hell, or ashamed, or both.

“Nah, I’m good. This is a really good book, y’know? I’ve got a lot to catch up on,” Bucky says, but Sam’s not buying it.

“Yeah, I read it in college. Got real sick of my friends acting like they knew everything about socialism,” and that makes Bucky smile again, so it’s a win. Sam shifts himself up the couch and braces himself above Bucky, palms flat on either side of his head. He looks up at Sam so fondly that Sam has to duck down and give him a kiss. Bucky swats him on the shoulder.

“I get it, you do push-ups,” he laughs.

“Hey, I got two super soldiers to compete with, I gotta work hard. Move over, let me lie down.” Bucky does, and Sam flops next to him. He knows he has to be careful when broaching certain topics with Bucky, especially stuff relating to his recovery, so Sam takes his hand and kisses it lightly before speaking.

“Baby, when was the last time you went out somewhere?”

Bucky shrugs. “I went to the gym with Steve the other day.”

“How come you don’t wanna come out with me, huh?” And maybe Sam is a little stung, but he knows Bucky has reasons for what he chooses to do or not do, and he knows it’s Bucky’s autonomy. Goddamn it, if anyone deserves to make their own choices, it’s Barnes.

Bucky puts his book down and rubs his eyes. He bites his lip. “Last time I went out, there were some people speaking Russian in the park,” he says, looking withdrawn. “Nothing happened, it wasn’t… but I just thought, what if they had said the words. I wouldn’t be able to control myself if it happened, Sam. I can’t do that to someone.” Bucky sighs. “It’s dumb, let’s just order pizza in.”

Oh, so that makes sense. Sam aches a little for it, because even after going through therapy and working so much shit out of his system, Bucky’s scared. And he gets it, at least in part, because he works with people who are scared of themselves every day. He worried about himself after he came back from his second tour, wouldn’t let himself look anyone in the eye, but he would never admit it.

Sam takes Bucky’s hand again, warm against his own. “It’s not dumb,” and even as he says it, he knows what he’s gonna do about it.

They lie there like sardines for a while, until Sam’s foot gets cramp and he has to shove Barnes to stop him giggling about it.

*

Sam finally gets on Amazon that evening, when Bucky is in the living room doing yoga or some shit. He knows what he’s looking for, and thankfully there aren’t too many different choices; he checks out a few models, wireless and Bluetooth and all that stuff that means nothing to him. Sam keeps up with tech developments, sure, but he doesn’t particularly care about things that are an unnecessary excuse to waste money- that’s more Tony’s area. Still, he’s more qualified to do this shopping than two ninety-year-olds.

In the end, Sam settles for the ones that are Amazon’s Choice, and is about to check out when he something else catches his eye. He and Bucky share an account, because they have the same address and their joint saving-the-world shenanigans foot the bill, and the recommended section is a list of what Bucky’s been wanting to read. Sam smiles, because his boyfriend’s a nerd, and adds a copy of _1984_ to the cart.

*

The Amazon package arrives the next day, because Sam can afford Prime now he’s on a superhero budget. He calls Bucky, and laughs when he ducks his head out of the kitchen, face and straggly bun covered in flour.

“What happened to you, man?” He says. “Did something explode in there?”

Bucky snorts to get the flour away from his nose. “I put the mixer on too fast. Whatcha order?”

“Something for you,” Sam says, “get over here.”

Bucky wipes his hands on his apron and looks over Sam’s shoulder as he struggles with the taped up box.

“Here, sweetheart, let me,” he says, pulling a rubber-handled serrated knife out of his apron pocket and slicing through the tape. He sees Sam’s unamused look. “What? I use it to open sugar packets, they’re a bitch.”

Bucky lifts out the box and looks slightly confused. “Headphones?” He says questioningly.

“Here, look,” Sam flips the box over and shows him the description on the back, “ _noise-cancelling_ headphones.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means, that when you listen to something through them, you can’t hear anything else. No assholes, no Russian, no nothing. Future’s useful for something, huh?” He puts his arm around Bucky. “What’d you think?”

“You bought these for me? They look so… expensive,” Bucky worries his lip and Sam nudges him.

“Hey, bring me back a Danish when you go out and we’re even.”

Bucky grins at him, warm bright eyes, gentle loving smile, and Sam knows he did something right. “Thanks, sweetheart.”

Sam shrugs and smiles back.

“You gonna help me choose some music too? All I got is creepy Russian stuff Nat got for me.”

So Sam ends up downloading _American Teen_ and two Lady Gaga albums onto Bucky’s Starkphone because he’s a multifaceted man, dammit, and sends Bucky to the mall.


End file.
